The present invention relates to a clock with a clock face, one or more hands and a clockwork mechanism with one or more concentric motion arbors for moving the hands around a rotary axis in a clockwise direction, whereby the clock face, when viewed in the direction of clock-wise motion, has a surface which is not symmetrical to the rotation, whereby the hands run on bearings at their inner ends facing the axis of rotation of the hands in a clockwise direction, such that the hands can pivot round a pivot axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation in a clockwise direction and perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the hands, and whereby a control is provided such that the hands can be moved in such a fashion that they rotate over the clock face at an essentially constant distance from the surface of the clock face.
A clock of the type specified above is known from DE-U 299 21 231. Though this known clock provides for the motion of the clock hands over the clock face which is not symmetric when viewed in the direction of rotation by continuously keeping a constant small distance from the clock face, but the selection of hands is significantly restricted. This limitation is caused by the hands being tilted in their rotation only transversely to their longitudinal orientation, which leads to angular errors between the surface of the clock face and the surface of the hands especially in the case of two-dimensional, relatively wide hands such as are generally known, particularly in the case of large clocks. These angular errors can reach such an extent that it is difficult to read the time; moreover, the optical appearance is significantly affected by such angular errors. In practice, therefore, the known clock has narrow, rod-like hands preferably with a circular cross-section such that such angular errors of the type described above do not become apparent. However, these narrow, rod-like hands have a thin appearance which is unsatisfactory for the designer of such a clock and significantly restricts the design options. These disadvantages are particularly apparent in large clocks and therefore particularly disturbing.
Thus it is the task of the present invention to provide a clock of the type described above which provides for greater freedom in the geometric design of the hands and which at the same time ensures that the current time can be clearly and precisely represented and read.